All Forum Posts by: George P.

 Thank you, I am calling the roofer to come and double check on the flashing

 We are getting some snow today.... maybe an inch or two, but its melting

Jered - we ran the dishwasher when we were there, and the kitchen faucet, and even flushed the toilets. Right there and even since then, no more water has leaked. The tenant is trustworthy, never had any issues with him.

The TH was built in 1990s, its occupied.

Thanks for all the suggestions everybody.

Just to add some more details.

Its a 2-story TH. The  water leaked in the basement's ceiling.

It's been cold that week, with lots of snow and ice.

The new roof was just replaced about two-three months ago, with ice sheets installed (3 feet I think).

I just don't think it could be a condensation issue since we filled at least one full 3-gallon bucket. 

So so weird....

The tenant calls about a month ago saying the ceiling in the basement is dripping water o_O. He did shut the water down to prevent further damage.

We rush there, open up the ceiling, drain all the water (collected good couple of gallons), make three holes (big enough to stick a head and look around) but find no source of leakage! Opened the water supply again - NOTHING is leaking ! o_O.... I mean you can see the water on the sheetrock, but you just don't see where it WAS coming from. 

It's been a month, and no other water has leaked - we left the holes open hoping it would leak again so we can identify the source.... Nothing !....

The kitchen is right above it, checked all the appliances (including the fridge with the ice maker), under the sink - all is dry there .... Double checked the ice maker - it's still making the ice.... 

BTW It's been one of those very cold weeks on the East Coast (zero-ish degrees) The outside spigots have been "winterized". No loss of water pressure, no loss of water anywhere in the house have been identified....

Any ideas as to what else we could check?...... Don't want to drywall the ceiling before getting to the root of this mystery.... 

BEFORE we opened the ceiling:

Will meet with the contractor later this week, but wondering if there is a rule of thumb to guesstimate the rehab costs ?

Area: MD (Howard Co)

Details: 4/2/2 1,900 sq ft (above ground) and 400 finished basement SFH, built in 1985. Its a listed REO.

Needed: roof, new kitchen, all baths (2 full, 2 halfs), hardwood installed, HVAC system, driveway, water heater (tankless), interior doors, windows and window treatments, garage door openers, attic insulation etc - pretty much everything inside. Original owner was getting sick and let the property deteriorate)...

Ideally I would like to open the walls, too and dry-wall from scratch - there is the old house smell and most importantly I would like to make sure whats behind the walls looks kosher.

And I would also need to fill the in-ground pool cause its deteriorated to the point of no return.

Any ideas as to how quickly rough-estimate this rehab? I am thinking around 100k? Is that too low or too high?

you need to budget more for maintenance and repairs - I wouldn't expect college kids to lift a finger if something goes wrong (and with 4 rooms full of college students, stuff will break more often than you'd want) and be disrespectful to your property. 

My lawyer will draft the note. I don't need the underwriting, (I have done my version of it already - the buyer qualifies). I just want to have the credit report on file just in case.

Thanks

found a few typos, but don't see the button EDIT .....

Arthur - have you checked the rent comps? Were you ABOVE market in the first place? Or you were right, you just didn't have an interested party?

If it's the second option, I'd market really aggressive i the next month - Craigslist, zillow premium listing, hotpads. Heck place it on MLS and maybe a relator will bring you a qualified tenant (in which case you will pay them 1/2 of one month rent).

And if its the first option where you wanted more in the first place, lower the price and call back your tenant. Tell them something silly like your assistant messed up the rental comps and gave you the wrong information. Now you discovered that you were overcharging, so you want to see if they're interested at $X. 

Chances are though, they didn't like the place, probably were ok with the price. People who like the place  but feel you overpriced it, will try to negotiate. Just my thoughts.